Caltrans OKs Miramar cemetery signs

Under pressure from veterans and lawmakers, Caltrans has relented and will install freeway signs so grieving families can more easily find Miramar National Cemetery.

The signs on Interstate 805 and Interstate 15 are expected to be in place within six weeks, according to Edward Cartagena, a Caltrans spokesman.

Veterans groups and local Republican legislators held a news conference at the gates of the cemetery Friday, originally to blast Caltrans for refusing to install signs.

But Caltrans signaled that it had erred when initially balking, prompting those at the event to note the new course.

“Upon a more detailed review, Caltrans misunderstood the proximity of the Miramar National Cemetery and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar” base, Cartagena wrote in an email sent Monday.

He said Caltrans had “previously approved the signs.”

Veterans last week, however, still believed that Caltrans had rebuffed requests for signs because the agency had said motorists could follow the exits leading to the base. But doing that would force them to backtrack since the cemetery and base are on two different roads separated by some distance.

Caltrans did not return an initial phone call from U-T San Diego seeking comment Thursday, but did send word to the lawmakers just before Friday’s event that the signs would go up.

Caltrans will install signs in both the north and south directions on both freeways near Nobel Drive and Miramar Road.

Also, the agency is working with the city of San Diego to place signs on Miramar Road to steer motorists in the right direction, Cartagena wrote.

Rocky Chavez, a Marine veteran and candidate for an Oceanside area Assembly seat, noted the importance of the signage in a statement issued Friday.

“Cemeteries are not just a place where heroes go to rest, cemeteries are a place where we as citizens go to celebrate our freedom. It’s only appropriate that signs point people in the right direction,” he said.